Carl Perkins

American Music Icon & King of Rockabilly

As read by Leanne Emmons, Arts in McNairy Music Committee ChairJune 9, 2017

​It is hardly necessary to recite the many accomplishments of an artist such as Carl Perkins who is, without a doubt, one of the most revered figures in American music history. But in case you just arrived on the planet, we’ll bring you up to speed with the briefest overview.

Perkins is widely acknowledged as the “Father of Rockabilly Music” and an authentic cultural voice of the post-war South. His effortless mixing of honky-tonk country and R&B styles helped touch off a cultural revolution that gave birth to rock ’n’ roll, forever altering the course of American culture. The list of musicians and performers who cite Perkins as a primary influence reads like a who’s who of twentieth century rock music: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Fogerty, Rick Nelson, Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the list goes on and on. Sir Paul McCartney famously said in one interview, “Without Carl Perkins, there would have been no Beatles.” The list of chart topping records, music industry awards, and international acknowledgments showered on Perkins are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say he is a Grammy Award winner, a member of the Rock ’n’ Roll and Rockabilly Halls of Fame, and he is universally respected as an architect of contemporary popular music. His song, “Blue Suede Shoes,” is now one of the most familiar tunes ever written, as well as one of the most influential in American music history. The tune’s lasting impact has been acknowledged by inclusion in the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, and the Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Greatest Songs of All Times.” Perhaps under appreciated as a song writer, Perkins had five (FIVE!) compositions recorded by the Beatles, and many others by artists as diverse as Patsy Cline, George Thorogood, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Jimmy Page, Dolly Parton, the Kentucky Headhunters, and the Judds. As a musician, Carl Perkins, along with contemporary artist and friend, Chuck Berry, virtually invented what would become the blueprint for rock ’n’ roll guitar—which is to say, the very sound of popular music for more than half a century now.

Here, in West Tennessee, Carl Perkins has achieved that rare status of a one-name-sensation like Cher, Madonna, or maybe more fitting for this occasion, Elvis. To us, he is just Carl. He is undisputed favorite native son of West Tennessee music. His name is synonymous with the regions incredible musical heritage, and everything from the names of the Jackson Civic Center to the region’s child abuse prevention program bears witness to the depths of his influence. West Tennessee—all of West Tennessee—loves Carl. And rightly so.

Most will have a degree of familiarity with Perkins’s impressive resume as a popular recording artist, and his philanthropic actives through the founding of The Exchange Club, Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. What may be less well known, is how deeply rooted the young artist was in McNairy County’s distinctive musical traditions. But that is a story, we love to tell. And it goes like this:

Born near Tiptonville in Lake County, Tennessee, Carl Perkins was deeply influenced by the sounds he absorbed in the cotton fields of the West Tennessee Delta, as well as the blues and country he heard on Mid South radio of his youth. But Lake County is, quite literally, as far as you can get from McNairy County, and still be in West Tennessee. Fortunately for us, the Perkins family would make their way south, settling first in Bemis and later in Jackson Tennessee. Carl may have left Tiptonville behind, but not the lessons he learned there. The young artist began to play around Southwest Tennessee anywhere he could find music being made. There was no shortage of venues, and the young guitarist brought with him a distinctive sound influenced by his early exposure to African American music, especially the style of “Uncle” John Westbrook, who had given him his first informal lessons on the front porch of his Lake County sharecropper’s cabin. Nobody sounded quite like Carl, and he never forgot to credit “Uncle John” as a crucial source of that difference.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of the best music jams in the region was staged by a Selmer business man by the name of Earl Latta in this very room. Some of the best pickers in the area beat a path to Latta’s Ford dealership for his big weekend jams. Numbered among them was an eager young Perkins. Though he was just a teenager, he was learning valuable lessons from his peers and mentors while cutting his teeth as a performer. His frequent trips to Selmer and other areas of the county put him in contact Rob Richard, Waldo Davis, Ray Presley, Charlie Cox, Francis Hendrix and other notable local players from whom he drew significant inspiration. Perhaps, most significantly, he was well known to have played with McNairy County Music Hall of Famers, Arnold English and the Dixie Hayriders, on radio shows in Jackson, Tennessee when Carl was an still an unknown and the English brothers’ stars were on the rise. Another period photo from Perkins’s autobiography shows him playing at a hardware store grand opening in the early 1950s being backed by McNairy County boys Benny Coley and Lindsey Patterson. Since McNairy County had one of the most diverse and thriving music scenes in West Tennessee, Perkins would have heard and soaked up the influence of many other local hall of famers such as Ernest Whitten and Elvis Black. This repeated and prolonged exposure to McNairy County’s rich musical traditions undoubtedly shaped Perkins’s sound in many ways.

Carl’s connection to McNairy County music doesn't end with a few period photos and a credible body of oral tradition. As unlikely as it may be, there is indisputable sonic evidence. Carl’s distinctive voice and guitar stylings can clearly be heard in an archive of recordings made at Eastview, Tennessee. Beginning in 1951, prior to his rise to stardom as a national artist on the Sun label, Perkins cut at least three sides with Stanton Littlejohn. These are widely thought to be the first documented recordings of the up and coming rocker’s career and they are remarkable in what they reveal about Carl’s earliest creative instincts. Perkins undoubtedly learned about Littlejohn’s amateur recording activity through his contact with the lengthy list of local players he collaborated with, in those years. It is believed that Carl intended to make demo recording for the purpose of shopping his music around with various national recording labels. In later interviews, Carl would confirm that he did just that during the same period he made the Eastview recordings, though he neglects to mention where the demos were cut. Littlejohn, who was inducted into the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame in 2013, is an odds on favorite for making those demos, as extant recordings from his collection now seem to prove. It’s probably worth pausing at this point to take a listen. Lady’s and Gentleman, this is Carl Perkins, circa 1953, recorded in McNairy County, Tennessee by Stanton Littlejohn.

How about that?

And there is more! A seminal event in Perkins’s career took place at Bethel Springs, Tennessee in 1954. Just months after Elvis Presley’s first Sun Records release “That’s Alright” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” the Hillbilly Cat, as some were calling Presley, appeared at Bethel Springs High School. Carl had heard Presley’s recordings on the radio and immediately recognized echoes of his own style. He planned to attend the concert and met Presley for the first time there. Perkins was impressed with what he heard and, after the show, the two discussed how Presley had managed to get a contract with Sun Records. Little more than a month later, Perkins auditioned at Sun and signed his own contract. In later years, Carl would recall that Bethel Springs was the place where the light finally went on for him. It was there he realized the brand of music he and Presley were pioneering appealed primarily to younger audiences. That simple insight was a game changer. He would always remember that McNairy County moment as an important turning point in his stellar career.

Just as McCartney observed there would have been no Beatles without Carl Perkins, there might have been no Carl Perkins without McNairy County. Carl drew deeply from the well of musical resources McNairy County had to offer him, and in his turn altered the course of American music history. Tonight we pay homage to Carl’s unparalleled legacy and in so doing, we bring honor to all those who helped shape his music. And, we are proud to say we are still on a first name basis with the Father of Rockabilly Music.

It is my honor to induct Carl Perkins into the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame in the class of 2017.

Lloyd Watkins

Multi-instrumentalist, Music Teacher & Humanitarian

As read by Tony Chapman, brother-in-law of Lloyd WatkinsJune 9, 2017​How about another round of applause for Lloyd Watkins and the Hall of Fame Band.

We get to do that a lot around here. Lloyd Watkins has been coordinating the music for the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame for the last five years. The Hall of Fame Band players, predictably, vary a little from year to year, but Lloyd is a constant, and that’s true in more ways than one. Lloyd is constant presence on the regional music scene, a constant encouragement to anyone who wants to learn music, and a constant example of how to humbly use God given talents for the betterment our world. Yes, Lloyd Watkins is one fine musician, but he is also one fine man.

There must be something in the water at Leapwood, Tennessee. With Lloyd’s induction tonight, that small, unincorporated community will be able to claim three native sons as members of the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame: Waldo Davis, Elvis Black, and now Lloyd. Each one, in their own way, occupies an honored place in our shared cultural memory, and Lloyd certainly represents an unbroken link in that chain, but even so, there is just something different—something special—about Lloyd Watkins.

Everybody in his family loves to tell the story of Lloyds first guitar, which was a mail-order Roy Rogers special. People of a certain age know the one—the three quarter sized cardboard and plastic model with Roy, Dale, and Trigger plastered on the body. Lloyd was only seven years old at the time, but he desperately wanted that little guitar, and boy, has that small investment ever paid off. He was a natural, and it was “Happy Trails” for Lloyd from there on in. We have it on good authority—not mentioning any names, of course—that the aspiring young guitarist would even fall asleep with that instrument on his chest. Now that’s dedication!

Before long, he would get a guitar upgrade, but that little novelty item was an important first step in a life dedicated to the transformative power of music. In time, Lloyd would become more than a little proficient with fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bass, drums, and piano, but he has always retained a love for the guitar and considers it his primary instrument. And now you know, we owe that to the singing cowboy, Roy Rogers.

In almost sixty years of music making, Lloyd has mastered many genres of music and played with some of the region’s best amateur groups and and nationally recognized professional artists—making him one of McNairy County’s most versatile and respected musicians. He has played gospel with the Waymakers, Jerry Whitten and the Tennessee River Boys, and many others, even while using is talents in God’s service at Forty Forks and Temple Baptist for almost twenty years. He has played bluegrass with the likes of the legendary Hall of Fame fiddler, Ernest “Pappy” Whitten, and modern masters such as Wayne Jerrolds. He honed his rockabilly and country chops with Eddie Bond, Gene Simmons, and Hall of Famer, Bo Jack Killingsworth. Lloyd has even performed with Grand Ole Opry stars such as, John Anderson, Wendy Holcombe, Gene Watson, and the Kendalls. Lloyd even had the opportunity to play solo for Tennessee Governor, Phil Bredesen, in 2008 when he performed and acoustic version of “America the Beautiful” at Shiloh National Military Park’s Memorial Day observance. The list of Lloyd’s musical adventures and collaborators is virtually endless and, by themselves, these would qualify him for induction into the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame. But, to everyone who knows him and understands his motivation for making music, it doesn't begin to tell the story of Lloyd Watkins’s impact.

It would be interesting to know how many people Lloyd Watkins has tutored in music. For twenty years, his caring and dedicated instruction formed a kind of one-man infrastructure for conveying local music tradition to area musicians, both young and old. He taught his own son, and grandson, as well as countless others to play guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. On a more personal note, Lloyd taught me virtually everything I know about guitar and has generously set many of my original compositions to music, simply for the love of doing so. The ranks of regional bands and church praise teams are filled with gifted musicians who fumbled to form their first chords under Lloyds watchful and patient eye. If he had been paid what it was worth to pass along all that knowledge, Lloyd would be a millionaire by now but, it was never about the money— it was always, and only about the music. He will tell you that his pay has been in the joy of seeing the light go on for the first time in a young student’s eyes, or in the smile on their faces when they came to him frustrated with their instrument but left playing, and singing, a new tune. And it goes without saying that we, and the world at large, are the beneficiaries of all the talent Lloyd had cultivated over the years.

In 2004, after many years of teaching music and reflecting on the process, Lloyd hit on a system of notation that would simplify the learning process for many students. He had seen the struggles of many young musicians and had been thinking for a long time about alternatives to existing instructional tools. The result was an ingenious method, now copyrighted as “Learn to Play, the Lloyd Way.” There are not many self-taught musicians who can claim a significant contribution to the way formal music instruction is offered to the students of traditional music, but Lloyd Watkins is one. Again, his profound influence on countless students and his creativity as a teacher, by themselves, merit the honor he receives tonight.

But for all the reasons Lloyd is being inducted in the class of 2017, one in particular, stands out. Lloyd has been nominated multiple times for the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame. All of the accomplishments already mentioned were cited in the letters of nomination at one time or another. Some nominations focused on his teaching and influence on young musicians, others pointed to the lengthy list of first-rate artists Lloyd has rubbed elbows with over his long and impressive career. Still others, keyed in on his mastery of multiple instruments and his fluid movement between the various genres of Southern music. He makes it all look so easy.

But a constant theme emerging from every single nomination, submitted on Lloyds behalf, has been the incredible generosity he displays with his time and talent. Indeed, if there is a good cause that might benefit from some quality music within a day’s drive of here, odds are, Lloyd has played it—more often than not, with his faithful sidekick and bride of 43 years, Brenda, right alongside him. The American Cancer Society’s Hee Haw show, benefit concerts, community fish fries and barbecues, fundraisers, church picnics, gospel singings, Veteran’s Day and 4th of July celebrations, nursing home singings, community events and festivals, you name it, they’ve probably played it. Get this, Lloyd and Brenda once played 27 benefits in one year. You heard that right. That’s a charity event every other weekend for twelve months running—no charge. And that’s just the ones they could remember. That may be their annual record, but it is hardly unusually, even now, for Lloyd to play a dozen or more benefits a year while still acting as the music director at Forty Forks Baptist. Who does that? Only someone who believes that sharing music is an act of grace that only multiplies in the giving. Lloyd is such a man.

Lloyd Watkins has approached music as a ministry, spreading love, joy, and song, far and wide while helping raise countless thousands of dollars for local charity, all while passing his gift of music on to a generation of grateful students and forging his own musical legacy. McNairy County, and the world beyond, would have been a different place, a lesser place, without Lloyd Watkins. Even this annual event, where we honor the history of our music and those who make it, would have been much diminished by his absence. But as we said in the beginning, Lloyd is a constant. There is a reason we call the house band, Lloyd Watkins and the Hall of Fame Band. Lord grant us the blessing of Lloyd and his music for many years to come.

It is my distinct honor to induct Mr. Lloyd Watkins in the the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame in the class of 2017.

Billy Wagoner

Billy Wagoner will tell you that he’s no professional musician, that music is just a hobby for him. He’ll tell you that his long association with some of this region’s finest musicians happened quite by accident one day when he walked into Wayne Jerrolds’s music store in Savannah, Tennessee. If you press him a little harder, he’ll admit that it was all in the Divine plan, that his life panned out just as it did because God placed all those musicians and opportunities in his path. That’s probably closer to the truth.

Bill, with characteristic humility, sells his musical ability short. He is more than a little handy with a number of stringed instruments, including banjo and guitar, and we’ve got the recordings to prove it. But he is probably right that making music was never his primary calling. His greatest gift, the one that has earned him our enduring respect and admiration, the one that we recognize here tonight, is his role as a teller of stories. If McNairy County has a sage of local history and musical heritage, it is unquestionably Billy Wagoner.

Bill’s lifelong affinity for music began when he was no more than knee-high. Among his first memories are dancing until he dropped (literally), to the mesmerizing sounds of the old-time reels, breakdowns, and hornpipes at one room school houses and private homes around his native Stantonville, Tennessee. It was in these informal performance venues that he first became intimately familiar with the styles and repertoires of local masters like Ocie Humphrey, Con Crotts, and Hall of Famers such as the great Elvis Black. Like everyone else, Bill and his family were there to enjoy the music and dancing, but his keen powers of observation were already at work. He was paying attention.

As the young man’s interest in music grew, he would become a proficient musician, befriending and joining many of his musical friends and mentors in recording and making live music in every possible venue in West Tennessee and beyond. For many years he fronted his own band, Flatwoods Bluegrass, with popular regional success. If you have the chance, just ask him about his many years of experience and who he’s had the opportunity to play with, over the years, but set aside a little time. You’ll need it, but it will be well worth it. I don’t think Bill would mind me saying, of all the renowned musicians He’s shared the stage with, he reveres no one more than two of his friends and musical collaborators, Wayne Jerrolds and David Killingsworth, who are on hand to play a musical tribute for Bill’s induction tonight.

When Bill wasn’t making it, he was organizing and creating opportunities for others to showcase their music. For many years, he was the primary music coordinator for the Buford Pusser Festival, among other events, using his lengthy list of contacts to bring high quality local and regional talent to the stage, exposing thousands of annual visitors to the bluegrass and old-time music he grew up on and so loved. He was, in fact, so successful at tapping into the regional appetite for traditional music that it virtually demanded he do something on a more regular basis. In 1997 he joined an existing effort to promote live local music in his hometown by taking over management of the Adamsville Bluegrass Jamboree. It is no exaggeration to say that you would have been hard pressed, in those days, to find a better traditional music event anywhere in the state of Tennessee. On any given Jamboree Saturday you could reasonably expect to find some of the finest talent in the tristate area performing at the Adamsville Community Center—now known as the Marty—for very appreciate and enthusiastic regional audiences. Just as important, was the opportunity it gave local pickers to cut their teeth as performers and hone their skills as musicians, not to mention getting rubbed with a little bit of that green salve. The impact of the Jamboree on the local culture and economy is inestimable. The role of cultural ambassador suited Bill well.

Even so, I don’t think anyone would argue that Billy’s singular contribution to our shared musical heritage has been in the realms of music preservation and journalism. In the 1980s Billy was instrumental in creating awareness about a nearly forgotten archive of old acetate records that sat deteriorating in an Eastview closet. Most people would have thought nothing of it, but when Billy Wagoner learned that David Killingsworth was making cassette transfers from the acetate collection of Stanton Littlejohn, he convinced David to make him copies and even add a little commentary about the artists who had mentored him as a young musician. Bill immediately recognized the importance of these tracks and was the first to broadcast them over the airwaves on a radio program sponsored by the McNairy County Historical Society. This conscious act of promoting the value of local music was responsible, in part, for the rediscovery and preservation of these rare cultural artifacts by Arts in McNairy’s traditional arts team. The Littlejohn Collection is precious beyond measure and its significance has now been recognized by the Tennessee Arts Commission, the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University, and the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, who have all invested heavily in its preservation. Bill knew it all along.

If you grew up near Adamsville, Tennessee or one of the other small communities in Eastern McNairy County, your home was probably never without the latest edition of the local paper, the Community News. The Community News was everyone’s primary source for local information and it was most often delivered to your home, with a warm greeting, by a trusted friend. Bill was the publisher, editor, writer, photographer, ad sales department, layout and design artist, distributor, janitor, repairman, chief cook and bottle washer at the Community News for every year of it’s existence. I am pretty sure, Mrs. Bobbie often wore more than than a few of those hats since it was a family business in the truest sense of the word, but their was no doubt that Bill maintained editorial control, and so got to write about whatever he wanted.

Through his Wagon Spokes column, Billy consistently shared interesting tidbits of local history each week accompanied by his characteristic wit and wisdom. It was always fascinating, always informative, and always eagerly anticipated by every regular reader. As often as not, the column seemed to feature the story of a noted musician, or some local music tradition. Over the years, Bill ran articles about Elvis Black, Pap Whitten, Waldo Davis, Dewey Phillips, Arnold English and the Dixie Hayriders, Carl Perkins, the Murray Brothers, The Whitten Brothers, Con Crotts, Wayne Jerrolds, The Holland Family, Merle “Red” Taylor, Eddy Arnold, Kay and Buddy Bain, Eddie Bond, Bo Jack Killingsworth, and many others. He wrote about the old-time home musicals and barn dance traditions, and the provenance and current whereabouts of famous local fiddles. He wrote about sacred music, Southern gospel, and the shape note singing tradition. He wrote about the Stanton Littlejohn recording sessions and Earl Latta’s old-time music jams held in this very building. He wrote about Johnny Cash performing at Stantonville and Elvis Presley appearing at Bethel Springs, before those were household names. Often, the period photos he dug up to illustrate these articles were as valuable as the narrative he so capably supplied. Bill also used valuable ad space in his paper to promote every kind of music event in the region. And that’s just scratching the surface. If there was a musical story to be told, Billy told it. It’s fair to say that Billy provided the first written record, of many local music traditions that might easily have been forgotten had he not called attention to them. If all those Wagon Spokes stories could be collected into one volume, what a treasure that would be.

It’s important to say that we are not just speaking in the past tense when we talk about Bill’s contribution. At 80 years old, he’s still playing music, as you will soon see, and he still writes the occasional guest column for the McNairy County News and Independent Appeal. You can bet, if there is good story to be told or a good tune to be played, Bill will be there.

If he is right that God placed all those great musicians in his path, and provided all those opportunities for him to share the stories of our musical heritage—and I have no doubt he is—then it only stands to reason that God sent us Billy Wagoner. For six decades Bill has served as a constant reminder that McNairy County has an unparalleled cultural heritage well worth preserving, worth crowing about, and worth passing on to the next generation. His spirit of optimism and unflinching faith in the power of music as a force for good in our communities and individual lives has taught and inspired us all. Just as importantly, Bill has given us an authoritative written record of our history and cultural heritage that will be consulted and valued long after we are all gone. Now that’s an accomplishment worthy of the highest praise and recognition.

It is my distinct honor to Induct Billy Wagoner into the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame in the class of 2017.

Peck Boggs

Venerated Bluegrass Vocalist & Guitarist

As read by Shawn Pitts, Arts in McNairy FounderJune 9, 2017

By any standard, Peck Boggs belongs in the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame. His story, while it is uniquely his own, is emblematic of the larger, longer narrative of local music heritage that the Hall of Fame is meant to honor and preserve. His musical journey is rooted in family, it is steeped in local tradition, and it interconnects with the stories of so many other memorable musicians that Peck’s name has virtually become synonyms with quality bluegrass in West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and North Alabama. Whatever is said, or done, here this evening will certainly not be adequate to express the breadth of his talent, the depth of his influence, or the heights of his generosity. But we will do the best we can to pay him the honor he is due.

Herman Talmadge Boggs—Now you know why they call him Peck—was born in 1931 to a musical family in Hardin County Tennessee and grew up near Counce. Peck’s father was the song leader at Center Hill Baptist church, and also played a pretty mean fiddle. By the age of 10 Peck had picked up the guitar and was accompanying his brother, father, and others at brush arbor revival meetings, house parties—locally known as musicals—community dances, and about anywhere else they would let him pick a guitar. It also became evident, very early on, that Peck had a powerful singing voice and his vocal abilities were soon in demand as much, if not more, than his skills with flattop.

At the ripe old age of 15, Peck joined his first band, the Tennessee Valley Boys, and began playing at dances and other events around Hardin and McNairy County. Soon thereafter he was recruited by his uncle Troy for another outfit which would give him his first taste of success as a regional entertainer. In the late 1940s Peck joined Troy, Deward Meeks, and Roy and Junior Williams, in a band called the Pickwick Fishermen. The Fishermen were almost immediately sought after in the area, anchoring a popular dance at Savannah, Tennessee for several years and appearing every Saturday morning on an old-time radio program on WCMA in Corinth, Mississippi.

It was during this period that Peck began slipping off a little more regularly to McNairy County. He, uncle Troy, and the other members of the Fishermen became regulars at the Latta Motor Company jams here in Selmer and recorded several great tracks with Stanton Littlejohn at Eastview. Peck is, in fact, one of only two living members of that fraternity of 20th century musicians who played in this building during the heyday of the Latta jams, and made recordings at Eastsview, with Littlejohn. The other one, just happens to be Bo English who will join in the musical tribute for Peck in just a few minutes. Benny Coley, who is also still with us, appears in the 1949 photo at the Latta, but there are no known recordings of him from that period.

In McNairy County, Peck crossed paths with an up and coming bandleader named Arnold English. Arnold fronted his own band known as the Dixie Hayriders who were already popular at area dances and were appearing regularly on radio program in Jackson, Tennessee. The Hayriders’ already strong lineup included Bo English on mandolin, Neil English on bass, Bernard Moore on guitar, Obie Vanderford on banjo and, of course, Arnold on fiddle. The addition of Peck’s guitar and vocals, made the Dixie Hayriders, arguably, the best bluegrass group McNairy County has ever produced. Maybe more importantly, when Peck joined the English brothers in the early 1950s he began a long running musical collaboration which spans more than six decades and has influenced countless young musicians. Tonight, Peck will become the fourth member of the Dixie Hayriders to be inducted into the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame, joining Arnold, Bo, and Neil English in that honor.

In the late 1950s Peck would join, yet another member of the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame, Kay Bain, in a musical venture with her husband, entertainer and radio personality, Buddy Bain. Kay and Buddy had recently formed a country band known as Buddy Bain and the Buddies who appeared on their own regular radio and TV programs in North Mississippi while performing on various other radio shows and live performances across the mid-south. Through Peck’s association with the Bain’s he rubbed elbows with the likes of Johnny Cash, Sonny James, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Loretta Lynn, and Merle “Red” Taylor, among others.

But the best story from that era, undoubtedly involves Peck’s beloved Martin D-28—an instrument he’s still proud of until this very day. Peck had put $25 down on that guitar at E.E. Forbes music store in Florence Alabama, and was paying it off at $11.71 a month when he joined the Buddy Bain and the Buddies—that’s right he still remembers what the monthly payment was to the penny. Just ask him, the payment was $11.71 a month, for a grand total $288—with the case included. Well, Buddy Bain was so impressed with that guitar that he had to have one just like it. So, what did Buddy do but go right out and get him one. I would be willing to bet he never appreciated that guitar as much as he might have, had he paid $11.71 a month for it. But as luck would have it, it wouldn’t matter for long. One night after a show, Buddy got so busy talking to fans while the band was loading up their gear, he forgot to put the guitar in the trunk. He only remembered where he left it when he backed over it and heard the sickening crunch. Peck would never say this, but Buddy’s admiration for that D-28 had more to do with Peck’s picking than with the instrument itself. But still…

In 1985 Peck was reunited with English brothers when he joined Bo and Neil in the Hatchie Bottom Boys. As with most bands, the personnel of the group has changed some over the years, but I don’t think anyone would argue that these three men have been the core members and heart of the Hatchie Bottom Boys since they were reunited more than 30 years ago. Along with the many accomplished band members who have played with the Hatchie Bottom Boys, Peck has remained a solid and influential voice in bluegrass music deep into his 80s. The Hatchie Bottom boys are widely regarded as one of the best bluegrass acts in the tristate area performing and headlining at innumerable music festivals from Middle and West Tennessee to North Central Mississippi and North Central Alabama and beyond. They have shared the stage with bluegrass legends such as Ricky Scaggs and Jim and Jesse McReynolds. They have cut their own record in Nashville which enjoyed a measure of success with its European release and distribution.

But here at home, the Hatchie Bottom Boys are unquestionably among the most beloved and revered bands of the late twentieth and early twenty first century. A whole generation of young pickers views them as the model for what a bluegrass band should be—and who could argue. Stan Perkins makes no secret that Peck and the Hatchie Bottom Boys are his favorite bluegrass band and he has been heard to say, on more than one occasion, that he regards them among the best, most authentic West Tennessee music acts, of any genre, working today. He is particularly fond of Peck’s soaring vocals.

Might the Hatchie Bottom Boys, or Buddy Bain and the Buddies, or the Dixie Hayriders, or the Pickwick Fishermen have succeeded without Peck Boggs? Maybe. But I suspect that in each instance, the popularity of these bands can be traced, in large measure, to Peck’s deft hand with a guitar, the easy way he banters with an audience between tunes, and draws them into the music, and, of course, those golden pipes. As they say, lightening doesn't strike in the same place twice, let alone three or four times. So no, it’s not a coincidence that Peck has remained at the forefront of the regional music scene for an incredible 70 years. He has played and sang his way through three distinct eras of American music and his continued relevance is clearly a byproduct of his formidable gifts as a musician, vocalist, and entertainer. And at 86 years old, he can still make that D-28 ring, he can still belt it out with the best of them, and he can still hold an audience in the palm of his hand. And are we ever grateful for all of those talents coming together in one man.

I am deeply honored to induct Mr. Peck Boggs into the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame in the class of 2017.